


A Man's Life

by sherrold



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Blackmail, Jack/Daniel Ficathon, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-28
Updated: 2006-06-28
Packaged: 2017-10-08 09:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherrold/pseuds/sherrold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After years of practice, Daniel could follow hockey, but he was a multi-tasker by nature, and he usually read a journal or did paperwork at the same time. Tonight though, he mostly sat and watched the game, occasionally taking time to watch Jack watch the game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Man's Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raqs](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=raqs).



Daniel stuck the earbud in, hit 'play,' and immediately winced. He hated the way his voice sounded on videotape. Too bad there were so few transcriptionists with the archaeological knowledge, security clearance and knowledge of the Goa'uld and Ancients to keep up with his notes. He started typing, listening to his narration and cutting and pasting from the video of the plinth, avoiding the clips where Jack had moved behind the plinth pedestal and was holding up his fingers curved like horns. He stopped typing for a minute, smiling as he listened to Sam on the tape come over and drag Jack into a conversation about SGC staffing. Thank god for her.

Sam ducked her head in his door. "Hey, you up for lunch?"

"Uh, sure," he said, a little startled by the overlap of real Sam and Sam-on-tape. "Just give me a minute -- I'll meet you up there." He turned back to his computer, and opened his calendar, counting on his fingers to make sure. "Hmm, today or tomorrow," he muttered; "might as well be today." He dropped Jack a quick email, grabbed his lunch, and caught up to her and Teal'c by the elevator.

"Ooh, brown baggin' it!" Sam slid his lunch out of his hand and tossed it lightly to Teal'c. "Keep away!"

"Sam?" Daniel just stared at all her energy. "Tell me that you got some sleep last night."

Teal'c stared at the bag before handing it back to Daniel, ignoring Sam's wave for him to throw it back to her. "What does the color of the bag affect?"

"Not much." Jack was much better at answering questions about Earth for Teal'c -- even if his answers were generally not to be trusted. "And if Sam broke my boiled egg, there's going to be hell to pay."

Daniel snagged a table while they went through the commissary line, waving and saying 'hi' to people. After years down in the mountain, almost everyone looked familiar, but oftentimes he had no idea where he knew someone from. It was a good thing most people had their names stenciled on their uniforms -- if only he could make the civilians in his apartment building do the same thing.

"Miss us?" Sam said, sliding in next to him.

"Indubitably," Daniel said dryly, giving a nod to Teal'c, whose catch word it had been recently. He grabbed the second apple off of Sam's tray. "Thanks!"

Sam slapped lightly at his hand. "Hey, how do you know I got that for you? Could have been for the Colonel."

Teal'c had seemed to be ignoring their byplay, but he said, "Colonel O'Neill is out of the mountain this afternoon, accumulating flight time."

"I thought it'd been quiet," Sam joked.

Daniel waited until they were all about to head back to their offices, then asked, "Hey, Jack mentioned that we haven't had barbecue for a while. Anyone up for steaks tonight?"

Both Sam and Teal'c looked disappointed, enough so that Jack would have been flattered if he'd been there.

"I have agreed to participate in nighttime mountaineering training with SG-12," Teal'c explained. "Please give Colonel O'Neill my regrets."

"And I'm going to the movies with Janet and Cassandra," Sam said. "Someday we're going to train O'Neill to give us a little more warning before barbecue night."

* * *

Daniel smiled as he pulled his car right into Jack's driveway, blocking in Jack's truck, and grabbed the bag of fresh corn he'd picked up on the way. "Hey, are you in or out?" he called, trying to see if Jack was already working at the grill.

"I'm over here. Did you bring beer?"

Daniel headed across the lawn, drawn by the barbecue aroma as much as anything. "Do I ever bring beer?" He smiled, happy to be out in the afternoon sun, out of the mountain, giving Jack a hard time.

"No, but I live in hope."

"I thought that was SG-2's motto."

Jack laughed. "Bunch o' no hopers. Ferretti's lucky they haven't shot him in the ass yet." Jack looked him up and down. "Whatcha got in the bag?"

"Corn on the cob. Bunch of kids were selling 'em by the side of the road."

"I thought _I_ was the sucker for kids."

Daniel smiled at him and let it go.

"So, no Sam, no Teal'c?"

"Just me tonight. Sorry about that."

"No problem, just means more steak for us. Let's go in, and I'll get you something to drink." Jack grabbed the corn and started handing dishes to Daniel to take inside. "Anything exciting happen in the mountain this afternoon?"

"Funny you should ask that…"

* * *

He knew something was up when he saw the strange officer sitting in Hammond's office. "You asked me to come by?"

"Dr. Jackson." General Hammond's usual smile was a little dimmed today. "Have a seat."

Daniel eyed the stranger -- tall, dark, with large black eyes and thick black eyebrows fighting for prominence on his face -- then looked questioningly at General Hammond.

"Yes, of course. Dr. Jackson, this is Major Nabili. He's from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Nabili rose and shook his hand, for once without any macho military I-can-squeeze-your-palm-into-two-separate-pieces bullshit. "Dr. Jackson."

"Major Nabili."

Hammond motioned them both to sit down. "Major Nabili is here about the Dr. Retish affair."

Daniel grimaced. One of his best civilian linguists had committed suicide ten days ago, and his entire department was still reacting to the shock waves. The whole situation was made worse when during the investigation, they realized translations and other papers from the SGC were missing.

"Dr. Retish was an excellent linguist and a respected scientist," Daniel said indignantly. He always felt guilty about shorting the department that answered to him, but they were good people. "I know that there are unanswered questions about some of his files, but I am convinced that there is an answer to all of this that will prove his integrity."

General Hammond looked down at his desk, obviously avoiding his eyes. "Son, that's why the Major is out here from Washington D.C. We know why Arem Retish smuggled papers out of the SGC."

Nabili drew out a small pile of pictures out of the briefcase at his side and handed them over. "Do you recognize this man?"

Daniel frowned, a bit confused. "Of course. That's Captain Nguyen. He was Jack's assistant for a while, and then on, um, SG-12?" He flipped through the stack. The rest of them were pictures of Retish and Nguyen together, mostly casually, but one picture of them in hiking gear together showed them kissing.

He threw the stack back at Nabili and stood up, almost too angry to speak. "If this is some sort of Don't Ask, Don't tell investigation, I am not participating. I don't care who Arem was dating, and I won't help you blacken his name."

General Hammond rose with him, and beat him to the office door. "Hold on a minute, Dr. Jackson. I know that we've disagreed about military procedure before, but you know better than to think we'd involve you in something like that."

Daniel took a deep breath, but let it out without saying anything and sat back down. He didn't know what was going on, but he owed Hammond his trust, and a lot more.

Major Nabili looked tense to Daniel as he continued to explain. "We think there is a mole within the SGC. A year ago, a member of the SGC had debts, huge debts -- they were about to lose their house. They were offered money to betray SGC secrets. Unfortunately, they didn't come to us, but instead, committed suicide to get their family a life insurance payment."

Daniel glanced at General Hammond, who nodded in concurrence.

"We didn't learn of it until too late, and we had no reason to think of a mole; the soldier's money problems could have been learned from outside the SGC. But someone is still keeping close enough watch on SGC employees that Dr. Retish and Cap Nguyen were spotted, and Dr. Retish was turned to save Captain Nguyen's career."

Nabili stared at him, trying to hold his eyes. "We can't let this continue, Doctor Jackson."

* * *

"So, wait, why did they come to you about this?" Jack handed Daniel a pear cider and opened himself another beer.

"Well, that's the punch line, isn't it." Daniel glanced out the window, idly watching a black sedan drive down the street. "How long until dinner is ready?"

Jack checked his watch. "We could eat it now, if you're hungry enough."

"Which means it's still completely blood red inside?"

Jack nodded 'yes' with a smirk. "Another five to ten minutes. You wanna make a salad?" Jack asked with the air of someone offering a treat.

"Volunteering to eat green things? Wait -- we're at your house; you *bought* green things?"

Jack made himself busy cleaning up the stove and didn't answer. After a safe minute, he asked again, "So, Nabili -- what's his story?"

"Um," Daniel said, burying his head rather ostentatiously in the fridge. He dragged out everything vaguely vegetative, his careful pas de deux designed to leave an inch between Jack and him each trip. "Hey, why weren't you at the meeting yourself? You're still acting as General Hammond's second, aren't you?"

"I don't know," Jack said tensely. "And until you tell me what's up, I won't know what I missed, will I?"

Daniel quit stalling and laid it out. "They want a gay relationship on base, between a high-ranking scientist and a high-ranking military officer." He carefully didn't look at Jack. "They have to be highly enough ranked that the scientist would have access to information to make blackmail worth doing, while the officer has enough at risk to make blackmail effective."

"So, they were asking you to choose members of your staff that might be able to pull something like this off?"

"Funny, that was my first thought, too."

* * *

Daniel took his glasses off and rubbed his forehead slowly. "What do you want me to do?" he asked reluctantly. "Are you asking me to help you find members of my staff to help you pretend to be blackmailable?" He rolled his eyes at his own sentence.

"No, Dr. Jackson," said Nabili. "We'd like you to pretend to be in a relationship with a male military member of the SGC."

Daniel almost laughed at "male military member," until the meaning fully sank in. "Wait, what. Me? That's a horrible idea. Shouldn't you get someone for this with some training being undercover? And even if I was trained, I'm already too busy with my department responsibilities and SG-1 -- you'll need to find someone else."

"Daniel; Dr. Jackson, sit down, son." General Hammond pointed him back to his chair; he hadn't even realized he'd gotten up to pace. "We've taken all of those issues into account. Some information we're not able to share with you, but you'll have to trust us when we say we've already been over them."

Major Nabili handed Daniel a list of names. "These are officers that you've worked with here at the SGC. We'd like you to pick someone off of this list that you could conceivable spend enough time with to make a relationship look plausible."

* * *

Jack stared at him across the hot grill. "They just said "you're it" and handed you a list of officers?"

"Pretty much."

"Did you say 'yes'"?

"Without talking to you about it?"

Jack smiled at him for the first time since they'd started this conversation. "So, was I on the list of officers?"

"No. It was the first thing I looked for."

"Okay, that's strange." Jack shook his head, trying to make sense of it. "Maybe none of the officers they chose have been married?"

"Well, Wilkens was one of them." Bob Wilkens' ugly divorce had been the talk of the SGC a couple of years ago. She'd found someone to trap a skunk for her, and she'd snuck it into Bob's car while he was off-planet.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter, since you're not going to do it anyway."

He had to give the man credit, Jack immediately realized that he'd pissed Daniel off.

"Don't get me wrong, Daniel. Maybe five years ago, I wouldn't have thought that you could pull off going undercover, but now? I'd trust you before I'd trust half the officers on that base." He smiled at Daniel, and Daniel smiled back, almost against his will. "That's not the issue. It's that if you do it, at some point, it'll get out that you were undercover as gay. And that's just not safe. There's always going to be someone who didn't get the memo. There's always going to be someone who thinks, 'where there's smoke there's bound to be a fire.' It's just too dangerous."

Daniel felt his eyes widen. "Jack, are you even listening to yourself? What we do everyday in the SGC is dangerous. We've even -- " He was about to say 'died' when he realized how loud his voice was getting. A little too loud for Jack's side yard. "Aren't those steaks ready yet," he said pissily.

Jack reached out to touch Daniel's arm, then pulled his arm back. "Just a sec," he said, and started dishing up the steaks and corn. "Let's take this all back inside."

Daniel grabbed the tray of dirty dishes and let Jack juggle the food plates, saying, mendaciously, "You got everything?" as he walked by, but taking pity enough to grab Jack's beer from where he was carrying it tucked under his arm.

By unspoken agreement, they tabled the conversation for a few once they got inside. After a minute's bustling around getting steak sauce for Jack and pepper for Daniel, they started eating, filling the room with nothing more than quiet moans of appreciation.

"Could you pass the butter?" Daniel started to strip the singed greens off of the corn, muttering to himself as he scorched his fingertips.

"Careful," Jack warned.

"Jack, I'm asking you again. Do you listen to yourself?" Daniel watched Jack's face as he realized what he'd said. Abashed was a good look on him, but ultimately, not all that useful. It never seemed to stick.

Jack put his knife and fork down and washed his face with his hands. "Daniel. You know I trust you to take care of yourself, right?"

"In the field, where you have had years to train me to your liking, you treat me like the weakest link -- " Jack had his careful lack of expression painted on, but his left eyelid drooped a little. Daniel threw him a bone, " -- but still like a valuable contributor." Daniel wasn't thirsty, but he wanted away from Jack's searching gaze. "Another beer?" He opened the fridge without waiting for an answer, and got Jack a beer and himself another cider. "But out of the field? You're not the boss of me." He'd used the phrase intentionally, and was glad to see Jack smile a little. "Which is why I let them try and talk me into it."

Jack looked furious. "You said you'd said 'no'!"

"No, I said I hadn't said 'yes', which I haven't. But the more they talked…"

* * *

Daniel flipped through the list once quickly, and then again slower. He recognized most of the names, of course, but right off, couldn't tell what criteria they'd used to select possible blackmail subjects. All of the men on the list that he knew were currently unmarried, but by no means were all of the bachelor officers that he knew on the list.

"I haven't agreed, and it's by no means certain that I'm going to agree."

General Hammond smiled at him, and said, "Understood, son."

"You're convinced that you'd have better luck with someone like me rather than bringing in a trained undercover operative."

He was still looking at General Hammond, but Major Nabili rushed to answer. "Absolutely. You have been here since the very beginning of the project. They would never suspect that you were a plant. Never. There is no one on this base who would be better for this project than you, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel would have been lying if he didn't admit that he liked hearing things like that. Five years at the SGC hadn't erased the years of being under-regarded and even ridiculed. But he knew his susceptibility to flattery well enough to keep it under control.

"I can't help noticing that Colonel O'Neill isn't on this list. Since I spend more time with him than any other officer, I would have thought that he'd be the logical candidate."

Nabili and Hammond exchanged glances.

"Dr. Jackson. After our… difficulty with the Tollan, Colonel O'Neill expressed quite clearly his…reluctance to participate in another operation where he would have to deceive his own team."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "You'd expect me to keep this from Sam and Teal'c? That's just -- "

"Daniel," Hammond said calmingly.

"For one thing, I trust them with my life. Literally. Multiple times a week." He smiled a little, thinking about it. "For another, if you think I could just start spending time with some officer here without them getting involved in one way or another? Well, you've never met Sam, for one thing -- and Teal'c seems quiet, but he's got his own way of getting caught up on things."

He watched Nabili and Hammond stare at each other, Hammond obviously trying to convince the junior officer to yield.

"We might be able to change the mission parameters slightly, if you were to agree to participate."

Daniel channeled Jack for a moment. "Uh uh huh." He wiggled his finger shamelessly. "If I agree, that change will be in writing before I sign." He flipped through the list of names again, wishing desperately he'd brought coffee along with him. "These are all fine men -- officers, whatever -- but I don't know any of them well enough to be able to do something like this with. If --" He stared at Nabili intensely "and again, I'm just saying 'If', I was to agree to this, I can't imagine doing it with anyone but Colonel O'Neill."

* * *

"You didn't say that." Jack banged his beer down with a little too much force, and pushed back from the table, almost knocking over his chair. "You did not volunteer me for this!"

"That's exactly right. I did not volunteer you for anything." Daniel stared up at Jack, determined not to be baited.

"You thought it would be perfect for us to be queers together. In front of the whole SGC: Hammond, Reynolds, Ferretti, you name it."

Daniel took a deep breath, then another. He stretched his neck, making a wide circle and continuing until both sides popped loudly. Jack was still standing over him, but he'd obviously calmed down, and looked a little sheepish. "Hey, since you're up, could you get me another cider? You were right, I really like these."

"Figured you would; Kowalski calls them 'beer for girls'." Jack grabbed another beer for himself while he was there, popped both lids off, and slid Daniel's cider to him across the table.

Daniel eyed Jack's line of empties near the sink but let it go; Jack could drink beer all night and hardly show the influence. "Fine. I'm a girl. You're not a queer. Dinner was great. You want to clean up now, or wait until after the game?"

Jack looked at the time. "Dammit Daniel, we've missed the face-off!"

After years of practice, Daniel could follow hockey, but he was a multi-tasker by nature, and he usually read a journal or did paperwork at the same time. Tonight though, he mostly sat and watched the game, occasionally taking time out to watch Jack watch the game. The conversation tonight hadn't gone the way he'd expected; not at all. He'd expected the over-protectiveness, but not the knee-jerk response to all things queer. He was sure there was a story there. Too bad Jack was unlikely to ever tell it.

At the end of each period, Jack grabbed them both another bottle. Daniel put each one under the couch, and continued to nurse his cider from dinner. It sucked being a light weight.

"Goddammit!"

Daniel looked back at the television in time to catch the replay. The Avalanche were looking especially uncoordinated tonight, and with less than five minutes to go and Sakic in the penalty box, they didn't have much of a chance to catch back up.

"Did you ever want to play?" He'd wondered for years. Why not ask?

"Not more than I wanted to fly. But if I could have done both…" Jack looked strangely introspective tonight. Daniel wondered if Jack was as confused by his response as he was by Jack's.

They both leaned forward a bit on the couch watching the last couple minutes of play. But it was as hopeless as Daniel suspected, and they flopped back in their seats as the clock ran out.

"Whew." Jack breathed out loudly. "Glad I didn't have any money on that one."

Daniel stared at him in disbelief. "Um, you mean, except for the ten bucks you owe me, and the ten bucks you owe Janet."

"Like I said, no real money."

Jack smiled over at him, and their careful three-foot distance was suddenly far too close.

"So, you heading off?"

Daniel stood up from the couch, and immediately sat back down. "Whoops! No, looks like I'd better stay. Those ciders pack a punch."

"No problem -- the guest room's ready. I figured it'd either be you or Sam since you're both lightweights."

Jack made a couple of trips to the kitchen, clearing the empties, and then led Daniel down the hall, grabbing him a couple of towels on the way. "See you in the morning -- and if you drink all of the coffee before I get up, remember that I know eighteen different ways to kill you."

"Yeah, yeah." Daniel walked into the guest room, set the white noise generator, turned down the bed, and quietly padded down the hall to Jack's room, closing the door silently behind him.

Jack was nearly undressed, his long sinewy legs free, just wearing an undershirt and a sock, and then just a sock. Daniel stepped up behind him and grabbed hold, held him, finally able to give in to what he'd wanted all evening. "God you feel good," he breathed, squeezing, running his hands through Jack's chest hair, nibbling on Jack's shoulder, sliding his hips against Jack's ass. "Is the surveillance mask on?" he whispered.

He didn't need to be able to see Jack's face, to tell he was rolling his eyes. "Yes, Daniel. Thor made it so I pretty much just have to think at it to turn it on."

"Just checking," Daniel said mildly, still holding Jack tightly.

"That's my line, you know." Jack pulled away a little. Daniel gave him a kiss and reluctantly let Jack go to start to get undressed himself, but it had been days, and he couldn't help staring as Jack puttered around getting ready for bed.

"Yeah, yeah. Like the rest of us never worry about you." Oddly shy tonight, Daniel pulled off his boxers and immediately slipped under the covers, stripping off his shirt and t-shirt last. Jack turned and gave him a look. Daniel stared back, ignoring Jack's mood in favor of his body -- as usual, Jack stood there naked and relaxed, as completely unselfconscious of his gray hair and scars as he was of his innate authority and attractiveness. "Come to bed, Jack."

Jack ducked back into the bathroom, ignoring him for a minute. Daniel looked at the bedroom clock and thought it through. It was almost eleven o'clock; Jack had had four or five beers; it could be another week or two before they had a chance like this again. But this might be their only chance to really talk about the undercover op without being overheard.

He smiled to himself. Okay, they were both going to dragging ass tomorrow at work. The only question now was, which one first. Could he concentrate on SGC politics with a naked Jack in bed with him? Probably not. But did he have a chance of getting Jack to stay awake afterwards to talk? Definitely not.

He dragged himself out of bed and grabbed Jack's robe off the back of the door. "Jack?"

"Daniel."

Daniel walked into the bathroom. Jack was leaning on the sink, staring at nothing as far as he could see.

"Jack -- Just this once, you have to talk to me. When Nabili handed me the list of names, I nearly orgasmed I was so happy. An excuse to spend private time together? Followed by a big disclosure at the end -- "ah, see, I thought they were, but it was all a big joke!" That's like…that's like a getoutofjailfree card. We'd never be suspected again. Everyone would know we'd been investigated, and it had all turned out to be a scam. We could relax a little." Daniel put his hand on Jack's shoulder, but it stiffened underneath him. "Wouldn't you like to stop having to make sure that our interactions are never more or less common than they were last year or the year before; trying to make sure we neither touch more, nor less, than we ever have, carefully watching everything we say inside the mountain or out, unless we're within range of Thor's little counter-surveillance box. Don't you want that?"

Jack still looked down, his broad shoulders hunched like he'd lost his best friend. Daniel didn't know what to say. Obviously, he couldn't do it without Jack, but that wasn't the point. Why wouldn't Jack want to?

"Jack?"

"Damn it, Daniel." Jack's face turned back and forth. "Have you ever told anyone you're gay?"

I'm not gay, Daniel almost said, but he knew what Jack meant. "No, I've never told anyone that I'm having sex with a man. At least partially because you'd turn purple and explode if I did."

Jack laughed a little, but his voice stayed serious. "I forget that so much of this is new to you. But it's not a pretty thing, having the people around you figure it out, or think they've figured you out. The marines mostly wouldn't care -- they worry about their own, but they barely think of the Air Force as part of the military, and they don't give a damn about civilians. But airmen take deviance on the part of their officers very hard, and they work closely together with your people."

Jack still wasn't looking at him. Daniel wanted to see his face, see how much he really believed the crap he was saying. "So, you're afraid of what -- blanket parties? Is that it?"

Jack spun around and grabbed Daniel's arms in one smooth turn, pressing him against the wall before Daniel realized he was being held. "You know better. I don't give a damn what they think about me, what they try to do to me." Jack shoved him harder into the wall then let go, just walked back into the bedroom and got into bed. "Let's go to sleep."

"Not a chance." Daniel sat on the bed next to Jack's hip and shoved him over a little, making room to get comfortable. "You're not worried about you, therefore, you're worried about me. About people calling me names? About them beating me up? You're not even being rational about this, Jack. Come on, think this through. We'd have to be fairly discreet about this, after all, if you're already in trouble they've got nothing to blackmail us about. So, hardly anyone is going to know at first, and at the end, everyone will know it's an op."

"It's got to get out a little, or they won't know to blackmail us. And there is no such thing as "a little" on a military base. You didn't know about Retish and Nguyen, did you?" Jack punched down a pillow and tucked it behind him, not meeting his eyes. " I did. Probably within days of them getting together."

Daniel stared, determined to see what Jack wasn't saying. "You still wonder if we're doing the right thing, don't you."

"No." Jack bit his lip, his eyes squinting a little from the nightlight. "I know we're doing a stupid thing. Sure, we're doing it very well. Very carefully. But it's still dumb, and I'll still be amazed if we don't get caught, and that's without volunteering for nitwit OSI operations."

Daniel looked down. Jack had moved so far over, their hips were nowhere near each other. Jack's arms were carefully behind his head. If they were afraid of contagion, they wouldn't be this careful not to touch. "Have you ever told anyone you're gay?"

Jack just breathed, slowly, in and out. Daniel watched his chest rise and lower, quietly recataloging all of his favorite places: the scar above his right nipple that turned it into a more of a teardrop than a circle; the way holding his arms up showed off his lats and biceps, the dark hair in his pits, apparently determined not to go gray with his head and chest hair.

"What would you do for me, Jack?" He noticed their breathing had sync'd up, and deliberately kept them together as Jack's started to speed up again. "What wouldn't you do for me?"

Jack lifted his chin and said, "I tell you no all the time, you little shit."

Daniel leaned forward and started rubbing Jack's chest, admiring with his hands instead of his eyes. Jack might want to keep his distance, but he didn't. "About military things, absolutely. About us? Not so much." He pushed the cover down a little, and leaned forward, climbing over him. He covered Jack head to toe, carefully lining them up before tucking his head in under Jack's chin, and wrapping his arms all around. "I thought this whole plan was your idea. You came up with the calendar data, Thor's black box, decided how many times we could see each other openly versa secretly. But why did you first come on to me?"

Jack didn't answer, but his arms wrapped around Daniel in turn, untying his robe and pulling it open. Daniel shouldered it off, and pushed the covers down too, determined to get as close as he could. He could finally feel Jack's heart beating against his, the way it should be, and shoved down a little, letting his legs slip outside of Jack's. Every inch of his body was sensitized by Jack's skin, every hair was standing up next to Jack's, his balls were drawing up against Jack's thigh, his cock hardening, bumping against Jack's cock hardening against him.

They never had much of a line between touching and sex, the one always led so quickly to the other. Maybe that was why Jack was so careful with their touches in public. Right now, Daniel didn't care, he just wanted more. He'd nearly forgotten what they'd been talking about as Jack's lips closed over his, and their hips started to move. "Jack," he muttered into Jack's mouth, unwilling to stop kissing to talk or stop talking to kiss. He started to move a little, back and forth, determined to touch Jack everywhere, more.

At home, alone night after night, he would plan out the next time they'd be together, elaborate seductions, explorations, boldly going where he, at least, had never been. But most times together, those plans went nowhere, as somehow they ended up a little fast off the trigger when they were together, as Jack pulled them as close as possible, held him as tightly as possible, and pulled Daniel along with him. And here they were again, but maybe that was okay.

He reached up and licked around Jack's ear, feeling a kick in his gut when Jack moaned. He went back to kissing, and noticed Jack's eyes were closed. His whole face seemed a little relaxed, actually. He kissed him again and Jack kissed him back, lazily following his tongue. Something was very different about this.

Daniel raised up, almost sitting on Jack and looked down. Jack's eyes were still closed, and all his coiled energy was somehow contained for once, at ease, ready and waiting for him.

Daniel thought he'd been excited before, but seeing Jack ready to let him lead for once, lying there, ready to take whatever Daniel wanted -- he had to reach down and pinch himself a minute, squeeze until he was back until control. And he knew exactly what he wanted, too. No evasions, no talk of whether he was ready or not.

He leaned down and kissed Jack again, licking and biting and trying to bury himself, trying to figure out how to get closer; how Jack always made them nearly one being. Jack kissed him back again, definitely not passive, but not taking charge, either, apparently willing to follow where Daniel led. God what a charge that was. Over the years he'd tried to bully Jack, confuse him, reason with him, argue with him -- but Jack had never just stepped aside and said, "no, this time, you lead."

He sat back up a little, flexing his ass a bit, using his butt to play with Jack's cock while he tried to remember whether he had a brain or not. If only he didn't feel so damn good. He looked down at the biggest smile he could remember Jack giving him. "What's making you so happy?" he growled, trying hard to sound testy.

"You, stupid," Jack said.

Daniel kissed him for that, glad Jack's eyes were open, glad to be teased, glad to be alive.

"Don't worry," Jack laughed. "Just do something you like. That's all I ever do."

Daniel laughed back, finally feeling just a little less frantic to think of something, do something Right Now. He ignored his tight breath, his pounding heart, and decided to try what he'd been wanting most of all. "You've got lube here somewhere, right?"

Jack blinked, slowly, then reached down under the bed a little and brought back a jar, opening it up one-handed before trying to hand it to him.

Daniel let him keep it, taking a fingerful and using it on himself, his face reddening as Jack watched him. He came back for a second fingerful, part of him waiting for Jack to say something, to stop him, the other part playing for his audience of one, drawing his balls back and forth on Jack's cock, rubbing his own cock over Jack's stomach, arching his back as he clenched around his finger.

He sort of wanted to have Jack take over the lube job, but that way might lead to Jack taking over everything, and he wasn't ready to let go of this yet. Being in charge was heady business.

A third finger, and he'd gotten no closer to figuring out Jack's expression. Arousal, of course; he wouldn't be able to do this so wantonly if Jack didn't look half way to coming already, but what else?

He arched back further, trying to get his finger in as far as he could – Jack's cock was longer than a finger, after all. But each arch pressed Jack's cock perfectly into his perineum, and suddenly he couldn't wait any longer. If he hadn't prepared enough, he would get it right next time.

A last bit of lube spread quickly over Jack's cock, almost ended things early. Jack's cock felt so perfect in his hand, and the moan Jack made as he spread the cream over the head was an almost physical thing. "Oh god," he breathed, clenching with everything he had. "Jack, hold yourself for me."

Jack squinted at him, smirking a little. Damn it, he would pick now to deliberately misunderstand him. He grabbed Jack's cock in one hand, Jack's hand in the other, and put them together. "Now hold it there."

He leaned forward for one more kiss, more of a shared breath than anything, and pushed back, lining himself up on Jack's cock. He had a bizarre urge to yell, "look ma, no hands" or just "yeehaw!" but managed to keep it down to a huge smile splitting his face. He could feel every millimeter of Jack's cock as it slid slowly into him, every ridge, every vein, and even the pain felt like a gift, taking his erection and calming him back down a little, letting him make this last.

"Jack," he whispered. "Jack." He suddenly wanted the surveillance mask turned off; wanted the world to hear him say, "Jack," a word that contained whole languages in it. He moved up a little, then down a little more, amazed that each little movement caused so much sensation. But the little movements clearly weren't enough for Jack; he looked a bit frantic, and his hands started to trace lines on Daniel's hips.

Well, Daniel thought, he'd been in charge, and it had been fun. He was pretty sure he'd get the chance again. He licked Jack's ear and whispered, "Do something you like, stupid."

Jack didn't waste any time asking him if he was sure. In a blink, Jack rolled them over and started to thrust, starting small, but speeding up rapidly, each one deeper than the one before. It was just what Daniel wanted, more, more and still more, overwhelming him until Jack was all he felt, all he heard, all he could see. And when he came, he was glad that Jack was the only one who could hear him scream.

Time must have passed, but he didn't notice anything until Jack slid out of him. The room wasn't quite spinning around him, but every time Jack moved, the entire world seemed to shift places.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Mhmh."

"Daniel?"

"I'h hmgelr."

"Next time, in English, thank you very much."

With an effort, Daniel managed to open his eyes, vaguely aware that there was still something they needed to talk about. "Jack…"

"Yeah, you said that. A couple of times." Jack was wearing something somewhere between amazement and a smirk. "You okay?"

"Mmm. Okay really doesn't seem to cover it.' Daniel rubbed his hand over his chest, everything was still so sensitized that even that felt amazing. "Thank you; thank you so much."

"Thank me! What did I do?" Jack's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair, he looked so surprised. "You're the one who just went and -- first time you had a chance, that was what you wanted to try? God, Daniel!"

Being able to see Jack's face wasn't helping all that much, since he couldn't make sense of it anyway. He slid down a little, and tucked his head back under Jack's chin, curling around him. "It was good, wasn't it. You going to let me again someday?"

"I never would have asked for that, you know."

Daniel couldn't help it, he was so sleepy he could barely remember his own name. He muttered, "love you," and that was the last thing he remembered.

* * *

The next morning when Jack's alarm went off, Daniel had the bed to himself. He padded down to the guest room to turn off the white noise generator, and out to the kitchen for coffee before realizing Jack was nowhere to be found. After a shower, another cup of coffee, and the magical finding of the glasses, he stumbled across Jack's note.

"Had to go in early, moved your car. See ya. Jack."

Wow, Daniel thought; how did the Air Force get him when Hallmark was obviously his destiny? After reading that, being at Jack's house seemed awkward. He'd planned on stopping by home, but headed out to the mountain instead; he had extra clothes there, they'd feed him breakfast, and damn it, he wanted to see Jack.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. Jack was in meetings, away from his desk, up-Mountain talking with Cheyenne security, in more meetings, and just plain gone. Hours later, he still hadn't found him, and it was getting close to his appointment with Hammond to talk about the OSI undercover operation. Apparently, that was his answer. Not just 'no', but don't even talk to me about it.

He wanted to be angry at him for putting them through all of this grief when they had this amazing opportunity to be able to act more-or-less openly. He tried to be angry. But he really couldn't be. Jack was obviously doing everything he could for him. Apparently he had started their entire new relationship just because Daniel had wanted it. If he couldn't take this additional step, Daniel really couldn't blame him.

His watch beeped the hour, just as he reached Hammond's office. Five years in, working with the military, he was finally getting better at being on time. Who knows what he'd learn over the next five. Saluting? Obeying? He grimaced and walked on in.

General Hammond was behind his desk, Major Nabili in one chair, Jack in the other.

"Jack?" he said, amazed.

"Colonel O'Neill has offered to work with us on this project, Dr. Jackson." General Hammond sounded a little irritated with him. "We might have preferred to ask him to join the project ourselves, but we're glad to have him."

Daniel nodded apologetically, but really all he wanted to do was stare at Jack. Sitting here. Volunteering. Jack.

Major Nabili looked like he was just glad to have his guinea pigs, and he didn't care where they'd come from. "Colonel, Doctor. Here are the initial briefing pages. Why don't we go find a conference room somewhere and get started. General Hammond, thank you so much for your help." He had them up out of their seats and shepherded into a small conference room before they could do much more than smile at each other.

Thank god Jack was back in charge. "Major Nabili -- do you think you could find us some coffee?"

The Major eyed him warily, but agreed quickly enough, and left them alone.

Before Daniel could say a word or take a step, Jack said, "Not here."

Daniel sighed, knowing he was right, but desperate to know what had changed his mind. "Tonight?"

"Not unless Nabili assigns it."

Daniel stared across the table at Jack, so close, so frustratingly close. "Maybe a letter?"

"What, you want to be blackmailed for real?"

"A phone call?"

"Because the NSA wouldn't dare listen in, right?" Jack didn't even look up, just shook the briefing notes at him.

"Jack!" He knew he was whining, and he really didn't care.

Nabili knocked as he opened the door, and bustled in, passing out coffee and sugar and cream. "Any questions on the briefing docs yet?"

Jack laid his down and asked, "When can we get started? I want to get this show on the road."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to wickedwords, as always, above the call; also last minute assists from barkley and greensilver


End file.
